BERLIN (AP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel considers the eviction of US President Donald Trump from Twitter by the company “problematic”, his spokesman said on Monday.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the microblogging platform on Friday, citing a “risk of further incitement to violence” in the wake of the outbreak of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing president.
Asked about Twitter’s decision, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said that social media platform operators “have a great responsibility so that political communication is not poisoned by hatred, lies and incitement to violence”.
He said it is right not to “back off” when that content is posted, for example, by flagging it.
But Seibert also said that freedom of opinion is a fundamental right of “elementary meaning”.
“This fundamental right may be subject to intervention, but according to the law and within the framework defined by lawmakers – not according to a decision by the administration of social media platforms,” he told reporters in Berlin. “Seen from this angle, the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the President of the United States are now permanently blocked.”
Facebook on Thursday suspended Trump’s account until January 20, the day of inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, and possibly indefinitely.
Merkel herself does not have a Twitter account, although Seibert does and many German government ministers do.